Summary report on Opinion Survey on Possibility of Housing development on Church Farm site March 2012

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1 Summary report on Opinion Survey on Possibility of Housing development on Church Farm site March 2012 Authors Sheridan Allman Liz Dowding Parish Councillors

2 CONTENTS PAGE 1.0 Background Summary Results Questions relating to the design of the Scheme Comments on Benefits to Community Facilities Other comments/observations...5 APPENDICES: Appendix A: copy of Survey... 6 Appendix B: TVBC policy extract on Flood Risk...8 Appendix C: Definitions of Affordable Housing...9

3 1.0 Background West Tytherley and Frenchmoor Parish Council hosted a half hour information session on 13thMarch 2012 in King Edward Hall. The objective of the session was to facilitate residents getting some information about two projects that may run in the village; one relating to affordable housing and one relating to the village pavilion. This report is concerned only with former project. The owner of the Church Farm site in West Tytherley, Andy Bott, used this opportunity to exhibit some preliminary proposals in relation to the possibility of using his present Brownfield site for a residential development to include some affordable housing. In addition to exhibiting photos, outline plans etc Andy took a number of questions from the members of the public present. He also asked that people fill in a survey which he provided and the Parish Council undertook to collect the forms over the following week and produce a short report of the results. The survey was left open for 7 days and residents dropped their forms into the village shop. This report is a summary of the results. 2.0 Summary Results Total number of surveys returned 38 Do you support the principle of a scheme to provide affordable housing for the people of West Tytherley? No 2 Yes 36 Do you support a housing scheme on the proposed Church Farm site? No 9 Yes 19 Yes but with qualifications* 10 *Qualifications - means that the resident agreed with the proposal at the Church Farm site but only under specified conditions please see notes below.

4 3.0 Questions relating to the design of the Scheme and any other comments Some residents answered Yes in relation to supporting a housing scheme on the proposed Church Farm site but qualified their answers. The qualifications related mainly to number of houses that would be allowed and the risk of flooding. Comments in summary Major concern requesting analysis of flood risk and adequate plans put in place for the site and downstream of the site for a considerable distance down the coach road. (Please see Appendix B for content on flooding from 2008 Survey) Obtaining house insurance for the properties on this site may be problematic because of the risk of flooding 2008 survey on affordable housing is out of date and needs to be repeated 15 houses total would be too many - specific figures mentioned were 5 and 7 7 of the 15 ought to be available as affordable houses for suitable applicants but if they are not taken up then they should go for private sale this would mean that the demand for affordable housing has been met and no further affordable housing need be considered affordable housing needs to include the facility for single people including studio or one bed room apartments Semi-detached and terraced houses should be part of the overall design Two and three bedrooms houses for families are needed housing needed to reflect design elements of the traditional West Tytherley houses further development of the housing stock on the site should be restricted if possible restrict the right to buy development should be screened in some way from existing housing so as to minimise the impact on immediate neighbours The housing should be mixed to avoid ghetto-ising the affordable houses this should be viewed as an opportunity for potential developers to demonstrate good practice Enough green space is important in the development Suitable pedestrian and vehicle access routes are of primary importance Every effort possible should be made to ensure the affordable housing would be offered to people with a village connection If gardens for the new houses will be small then consider an area for allotments and maybe a community orchard Small gardens so that people can have pets

5 No integral garages no one uses them and they waste internal living space have eco-friendly parking area LED lights as opposed to CFL s in the houses Focus on energy efficient homes Grey water from sewage plant to be recycled and surface water to be stored and recycled to minimise run off into the village main drain Provision of this housing would help boost the local economy through more home working Design competition for local architects would be good Other sites should be considered like Dean road and North Lane or the site next Poplar Farm Work units on the site would be better because young people need jobs in the village Lack of infrastructure in Tytherley makes it unsuitable for more housing and the housing market is stagnant at present Community Facilities that respondents thought would benefit from the Scheme Village shop King Edward Hall (more funding may mean could extend the hall for storage) Recreation ground and play area New village pavilion Village school Public House Lead to the possible re-instatement of the bus route Road and footpath improvements Maybe it would support the case for better mobile phone coverage and high speed broadband Improve the drainage infrastructure from North Lane through the playing fields and Church Farm, Coach road, Summer Lodge to the Fishponds and the river Dun Other comments/observations the definition around affordable housing is obviously confusing and misleading for some people (please see appendix C for official definitions from this confusion over the definition means that some people may think that affordable housing can be limited to local (West Tytherley/Frenchmoor/West Dean) residents only and that is not true and unlikely to ever be true one resident suggested that this survey should be sent out with the Village newsletter in order to get a more representative sample of the Tytherley and Dean residents

6 Appendix A - copy of Survey

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8 Appendix B - TVBC Policy on Sustainable Development and Climate Change as listed in Executive meeting 7 th January 2008

9 Definitions Appendix C extract from Affordable housing includes social rented and intermediate housing, provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. Affordable housing should: meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices; and include provisions for: (i) (ii) the home to be retained for future eligible households; or if these restrictions are lifted, for any subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision. 31. Social rented housing is rented housing owned and managed by local authorities and RSLs, for which guideline target rents are determined through the national rent regime. The proposals set out in the Three Year Review of Rent Restructuring (July 2004) were implemented as policy in April It may also include rented housing owned or managed by other persons and provided under equivalent rental arrangements to the above, as agreed with the local authority or with the Housing Corporation as a condition of grant. 32. Intermediate affordable housing is housing at prices and rents above those of social rent but below market price or rents, and which meet the criteria set out above. These can include shared equity (eg HomeBuy) and other low cost homes for sale, and intermediate rent. Context of the definitions 33. The definitions above replace the guidance given in PPG 3 Housing (2000) and Circular 6/98 Planning and Affordable Housing. They are set out in Annex B of Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3): Housing. 34. The Government has adopted this definition of affordable housing because it wishes to ensure that developer contributions are used to help provide genuinely affordable housing for households in need over the long term. The definition includes homes owned or managed by private sector bodies and provided without Government grant, and new models of affordable housing. It is not essential that all affordable homes are offered under identical conditions. 10 DELIVERING AFFORDABLE HOUSING Social rented housing 35. Normally, only households on local authority and RSL registers are eligible for social rented housing. Target rents are set under a national rent regime; are well below market levels; and, are normally based on relative property values, local earning levels and property size. When a household ceases to occupy a social rented home, it is normally made available to other households eligible for social rented housing. Social rented homes are normally owned and/or managed by a RSL (or other body agreed by the Housing Corporation), and will be required by regulation or contract to meet the criteria. 36. Some tenants have the legal right to purchase at a discount the social rented home in which they live, eg RSL tenants with a Right to Acquire and local authority tenants with Right to Buy.Where these rights are exercised the home itself ceases to be affordable, but procedures

10 are in place to reuse receipts. Receipts from Right to Acquire sales are recycled to provide more social rented housing to help other eligible households. Receipts from Right to Buy are partly (25 per cent) retained by the local authority for use however the authority chooses; the remaining 75 per cent is kept by Government to be reinvested in new supply. 37. Local authority homes which are let in connection with the tenant s employment, or are particularly suitable for occupation by disabled or elderly persons are exempted from Right to Buy. Publicly funded housing in small rural settlements5 is exempt from Right to Acquire, as replacing them with other affordable homes would be extremely difficult. (It is not exempt from the Right to Buy, but the landlord may require that properties sold under that scheme can only be resold to people who live or work locally). Landlords will also usually have a right of first refusal to buy back any homes sold under the Right to Acquire and Right to Buy, if they are resold within ten years. Intermediate affordable housing 38. Types of housing between market and social rented housing include: Intermediate rented homes are provided at rent levels above those of social rented but below private rented. The Government offers these to some key workers who do not wish to buy. Discounted sale homes have a simple discount for the purchaser on its market price, so the purchaser buys the whole home at a reduced rate. Shared equity is where more than one party has an interest in the value of the home eg an equity loan arrangement or a shared ownership lease. There may be a charge on the loan, and restrictions on price, access and resale. 5 Small rural settlements have been designated for enfranchisement and right to acquire purposes (under Section 17 of the Housing Act 1996) by SI 1997/ inclusive and 1999/1307). DELIVERING AFFORDABLE HOUSING 11 Shared ownership is a form of shared equity under which the purchaser buys an initial share in a home from a housing provider, who retains the remainder and may charge a rent. The purchaser may buy additional shares ( staircasing ), and this payment should be recycled for more affordable housing. In most cases, a purchaser may buy the final share ( staircase out ) and own the whole home, though this may be restricted in some rural areas. 39. Homes of any of these types should only be considered intermediate affordable housing if they meet the criteria in the definition. If they do not, even if offered at less than market price, they should be considered low cost market housing, outside the definition of affordable housing. 40. For example, a shared ownership home is likely to be affordable if access is restricted to households from a target group at a price they can afford. The purchaser may staircase out, but there should be secure arrangements for subsidy to be recycled to provide more affordable homes or buy back the home if needed. 41. Low cost market housing is not part of the Government s definition of affordable housing although it can play an important role in meeting housing demand. Local authorities should consider the potential to provide low cost market housing as part of their approach to achieving a mix of housing (PPS3, paragraph 26).